What Happened?
Supposedly, an answer is coming soon on the cause of the Columbia disaster.
Was it the foam? Reading the media, it looks like it very well might be, but then the media latched onto that very early on and many have stood unwaveringly by it since then. Supposedly, (according to the often anti-Shuttle SpaceDaily, a computer model showed that the damage from the foam impact could have caused enough damage to cut completely through the tiles. The release of e-mail discussions predicting essentially the scenario that occurred also supports this theory. It sounds like these e-mails may indeed greatly speed up the investigation process, if what occurred is determined to be the same as what was predicted.
Of interest, though, is the wing section found in west Texas that appeared to have suffered a collision, and was marked with orange specks. I have yet to hear whether those orange specks are consistent with the orange of the External Tank. If not, then you're looking at another collision later in the mission.
It shall be interesting to see what comes out of this.

:: :: 11:26 :: David :: [permalink] ::